A Donna man has been convicted by a federal jury for an arrest dating back to 2018, when he was found transporting several Chinese nationals who did not have documentation to be in the United States, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.
Federico Espinosa-Flores, 49, was arrested at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Sarita on Dec. 21, 2018. He was charged with knowingly and intentionally conspiring to unlawfully transport undocumented immigrants. The trial lasted two days.

This week, 71 immigrants seeking asylum in the United States arrived at the migrant relief center in downtown McAllen. It was a slow week.
Earlier this year, and over the last five years, federal authorities dropped off hundreds of — and at times over a thousand — migrants in McAllen in a single day. Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, with contributions from the City of McAllen, has aided the migrants. This year was perhaps the busiest, during the winter when the authorities released mass groups of migrants into border cities. Read more at the monitor.com.

Maps released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection appear to show construction near Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, which was spared in the border security deal negotiated earlier this year.
In February 2018, a contract worth up to $100 million was published, soliciting vendors to bid on a project that included the construction of 3 miles of wall in Alamo, where the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge is located, as well as the “installation of fiber-optic cable, lighting systems and construction of an all-weather patrol road and enforcement zone,” the notice stated.
Despite plans to have that contract awarded in May 2018, and after several protests from the Rio Grande Valley community, who opposed construction and did not want to see the refuge damaged and seemingly close down, Santa Ana was spared during omnibus bill negotiations, essentially saving it from border wall construction.
Read the full story on TheMonitor.com.

One tender moment between a young migrant girl and comedians volunteering at the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen lingers in the thoughts of one television producer while sitting in the comfort of his home in Brooklyn, New York.
Colin Jakubczyk joined a group mostly composed of people who devote their lives to making people laugh, spent 10 days in the Rio Grande Valley — a region under a national spotlight because of intense debate over President Donald Trump’s polarizing immigration policies.
“And they just made so, so many kids laugh. I saw one pair of us that, after braiding a girl’s hair, showed a video on their phone of a motorcycle and proceeded to steer her braids like handlebars as she giggled endlessly,” Jakubczk said. “One of the things that worries me the most about this crisis is how much of a permanent psychological effect it is going to have on the children that are forced to endure it.
“Having a moment of laughter after such trauma was deeply needed and appreciated by these kids.”
They came from New York City, Los Angeles, Utah and Atlanta to McAllen over a 10-day period this month after raising $15,000 used to support the respite center and Team Brownsville.
Read the full story at themonitor.com